Game over (for now) Threat of violence leads officials to postpone city basketball game

Published
7:00 pm EST, Thursday, January 31, 2008

School, police and city officials postponed the boys basketball game between Brien McMahon and Norwalk high schools, citing a drive-by shooting Wednesday night and other recent violence.

On Wednesday at approximately 9:30 p.m., as many as five gunshots penetrated a three-story apartment building on Orchard Street. No one was injured, but two bullets went through the window of a room where an 8-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl were sleeping. Another bullet tore through a room where a toddler slept.

An anonymous source told The Hour Thursday the shooting on Wednesday was retaliation against a suspect in the slaying of 17-year-old Tykwan Hunt.

Hunt's body was discovered in the parking lot of McDonalds on Main Avenue on the morning of Jan. 12, after a party on Linden Street the previous night exploded in violence, leaving four youths with stab wounds.

Hunt died of stab wounds to the chest and the state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.

Schools Superintendent Salvatore Corda referred questions about any connections between the shooting Wednesday and Hunt's murder to police.

"I don't know the specifics in terms of the connection to Tykwan," Corda said, "but I think whenever you have a situation where a weapon is fired, if the police feel there are some concerns -- and obviously we work very, very closely with them -- then we do whatever is in the best interest of our kids."

Police Chief Harry W. Rilling declined to relate Wednesday's shooting to Hunt's death, citing the department's policy not to comment on current investigations.

The basketball game between the two schools was scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at Norwalk High School. In hopes that daylight will make the situation safer, officials moved the game to Saturday, Feb. 9, at 1 p.m. A scheduling conflict prevented the game from being held this Saturday. The decision to postpone the game was made after officials met on Thursday.

"We want to make sure that, given what has been going on in the community, that there is a safe and secure environment," said Corda, adding the decision was made by Norwalk police, Mayor Richard A. Moccia and the principals and athletic directors of both schools.

The superintendent added holding the game during daylight hours is "a lot (easier) to manage."

Corda said the decision to hold large school events is always re-evaluated after a violent incident, noting that high school sports were also postponed after last month's stabbing death of Hunt.

A letter of explanation is going out to parents and will be posted to Norwalk Public Schools' Web site.

Wayne Mones, Norwalk High School's athletic director, said nobody was happy with the decision but safety had to be the priority.

"I think that it's a shame that outside events in the community have to have an effect on what we have to do here at the high school," Mones said, "because at the high school, here, these things aren't happening."

Hour correspondent Harold F. Cobin and Hour City Editor James S. Walker contributed to this report.

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